Then there was a call from Sanju, sinking her mood like the Titanic. ‘Anu, we can go see some houses tomorrow. I am working from home.’

‘I can’t teach from home, can I?’ Anu snapped.

‘Okay, okay. We will go after you come back from school.’ Sanju backtracked quickly. If he fought, she could say no to him more easily. But Sanju was so gentle, Anu most often just gave in.

Anu looked longingly at everything in Jake’s club. The pool, the tennis court, the lawn, the rabbits that scurried around the lawn. She knew that place, she knew people who worked there. She knew exactly what to order there. She had come to meet Shwetha to tell her about Sanju’s fanciful idea.

‘Now, why are you so upset, Anu? You want to die in the greater Vijaynagar area?’ asked Shwetha working on the onion pakodas.

Anu took a swig of her beer. ‘Shewtha! I can’t move! My life is here. I married Sanju because he never had any ambition to move out of the greater Vijaynagar area.’

‘You are too low on ambition, Anu.’ Shwetha continued to eat, and Anu continued to drink.

‘Hey, that is called contentment. I am happy, Shwetha. I am happy with the way I look, the way I live, the people in my life. Everyone I know is unhappy about something or the other. Now, why does Sanju want to rob me of my happiness?’ Anu wailed more.

‘When you get married, it is the collective happiness that you sign up for. But Sanju is proposing an upgrade to your life. Give it a try. Go see some houses as a start.’

‘We see some houses and then we will settle for one. That is the end of me! I curated my life here. It didn’t just happen, okay? Left to my parents, I would be an engineer in a faraway country. Left to you, we would never be friends. Left to Sameer, I would just be some girl and not his best friend. Left to Sanju, I would be toiling living with Padzilla.’

Shwetha laughed. ‘I agree, Babe. You will do the same things all over again. Don’t act as if this is the end of the world. You will still be in Bangalore.’

‘You and I can’t just meet at the drop of a hat anymore.’

‘Yes. But we can still meet. If it makes you feel better, I will wear a hat and drop it for you.’